#flying-type

2014 - Original Sprites for bookkeeping transparency:

2022 - Intermediate Redo before I resolved to try and design Fakemon that actually 'look like Pokémon'. C'X

NAMING

Originally they were called Soffit, Spifowl and Bogavo. Now, the two last names received minor tweaks (now Spifoul & Bogeyvo to play up the ghost type more), but the first one changed completely, since while the name was cute, I hardly remembered the soft reason for its inspo. ^^' Quailing has an adorable double-meaning as I've brought quail in as a secondary animal base. The result is fun-sized, but still elaborate birdies, and I'm here for it. XD

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ADDED CONCEPT:

Upfront Edit: I seemed to remember curved needles being a thing in sewing, but I was thinking of suture needles, so I need to decide if I'm straightening these spurs out (knitting), giving them hooks at the ends (crotchet) or standing by the Pokemon-given right to be only semi-realistic.

When I started to think about what would reinforce Cottagecore (a key theme of the '"region"), I thought: embroidery. This comes in the new modified spurs on their legs meant to reference knitting(?) needles, and the crest feathers looking like sewing needles.

Various textile crafts (homemade, and home-based especially!) tend to fit in well with this aesthetic, and embroidery often features very ornate patterns, similar to a peafowl's plumage. We can extend this to some form of adaptation, but how would it work?

Quicker-than-before & Revised Summary: The long spurs on their legs are used as weapons in the Spifoul stage, but as knitting/crocheting needles in the Bogeyvo stage. The upper stages of the Stider line farm their own young's silk, passing it off to their domesticated birbs to process it into reinforced thread and yarn, before fashioning these into various structures within and on the walls of their territory compounds. It's a LONG story I'm still in the process of figuring out, but it has to do with a complete reimagining of Stider and other former-starter lines that have since been replaced.

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MUTATION CONSIDERATIONS:

I reapproached these designs with the new concept that mutated/variant species are a prominent aspect of the setting, and this line is a mutated and tbh, undead deviation from the Pidove line! I'm trying to keep these traits in mind as things observed in birds mutated over time within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, while still creating something elegant, because... peafowl. >v<;

❧ beaks are reduced in size and shape ❧ albinizing/"discoloring" plumage ❧ feathers bent in increasingly odd ways (goal: 'ghostly waves') ❧ multiple eyes to be reworked, but are definitely there.

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OTHER DEV AREAS:

Color-wise, there will be variation from stage to stage, these are just sample/test fills and I'll play with it more once I have full-sized inked illustrations, but I do like the idea of contrast and a dark bottom for blending into undergrowth! The goal is not too muted, but not too loud for the setting, and letting them be colorful (they're Pokémon).

For patterns and shapes, these are a first pass. As I upscale and resketch, I'll be thinking about flow more critically. This was, as with color, about establishing contrast and breaking up larger planes.

What I'm struggling with most is avoiding overdesigning here. It's not a mythical or legendary 'mon, and less is more with this franchise, but it's pretty-bird and I'm not sure I can help myself. X'D

As I look at Quailing's dorsal head plumage, I'm thinking the brow area definitely needs a tweak. I was going for a cute cowl/ear-flap hat shape, but it really looks too much like a helmet or Mickey Mouse brow-ridge.

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BONUS "Mega Evolution": (half-joke reference)

(a thank you for making it this far. C'X)

My region has a sort of re-flavored Mega gimmick I call "Veiled Forms" which are mystical/supernatural or in this case, downright strange abstractions of the Fakemon's concept(s). Any weirder and this could be the equivalent of a biblically-accurate angel, but I wanted to give it more of the wider fan seen in real-life peacocks, and couldn't get this backlit image out of my head — quite majestic!